The Spirited Crane - Chapter 13: Advance
<- Previous chapter Next chapter -> Chapter 13: Advance Both of them were panting and sitting under a rib cage, which was lying horizontally on the ground. There were still a lot of “bone trees” surrounding them, so at the moment, they hid themselves quite well. Dearan wiped off the sweat from his face, while Tsuru continued looking around. Dearan looked at his watch. They had already been in the battlefield for at least fifteen minutes, yet there was no progress at all. Boney animals continued charging out from within the forest, and Tsuru just continued eliminating them. It was endless. Baron was nowhere to be found. The forest was dead silent when nothing attacked them. “Mmm… If only there’s something to remove this forest…” Tsuru talked to herself. Dearan was looking through his notes, which did not only contain the spells that he was going to use, but also any kind of information that Tsuru gave him beforehand. As Tsuru mentioned about the battlefield itself, he flipped to the pages about Nexuses. “...” Dearan was focusing on his reading, then he called out to Tsuru in a helpless voice, “Didn’t you tell me before you can replace the battlefield?” “Eh?” “Nexus. I’m talking about the Nexus,” Dearan almost rolled his eyes, believing that Tsuru forgot that she could do that. Judging from her reaction, she probably did, as she was playing with her fingers for a moment, and looking away from him. He sighed, “What would’ve happened if I didn’t remind you that…” Then he got up and gently hit his notebook on her head, “So? You think you can do that now?” “Well yeah, I can, but that’d also mean losing a precious chance of Soul Burst. I need to use my Soul Burst skill to revamp the area, but there has to be a pause before I can use Soul Burst again. You know that.” She continued, “That’s not the main problem. The thing is, if we revealed everything, and Baron saw us first, then he could strike us first, with ourselves open to any attack. We still don’t know what his Spirit does.” Dearan smiled, “Well, then we just have to defend ourselves, no?” He started flipping over his notebook again, but the more he looked, the bitter his expression was getting. There was not any magic that can completely protect them from any kind of situations. “It’s fine! I’m not that weak!” Tsuru replied. Dearan frowned for a while. Then, he nodded, “If that’s what you say. We need to break through this as soon as possible. We’ve already wasted quite a lot of time on this.” Tsuru smiled back cheekily. She stepped forward to allow herself some space. After that, she spread out her arms and chanted, “Soul Burst: The Princesses’ Floating Garden!” Suddenly, starting from underneath her feet, fresh grass grew out from the ground, slowly expanding across the field. Real trees stood tall, asserting their dominance by starting a beautiful cherry blossom. The fog was clear, the sky was seen in bright blue colour. The sun shone down on every living being strongly. Tsuru grabbed Dearan’s arm, and they ran out of within the cherry trees. In front of them was a stone path. As they stepped onto the path, Tsuru immediately looked to the right, and used her right arm to block a purple-glowing axe. It was big and heavy, but nevertheless she found the right angle to collide with her arm, causing it to swing to a different direction easily. However, Tsuru let go of Dearan. She fell back a few steps, holding her arm with a painful expression. She could reflect the axe, but it felt like it almost crushed her bones. There was no time for Dearan to care for Tsuru though, as someone greeted them. “Ohoho? You got some real strength there. And to think that you could change the whole scenario. I’m honestly surprised,” the giant skeletal humanoid slowly and steadily walked towards them with Baron sitting on it. It was Baron talking. He had a smirk on his face. “I’m looking forward to what you’re still keeping up in your sleeves. Make sure you entertain me well!” Just as Baron finished that line, the skeletal giant charged at them, and lifted up its left upper arm, which was holding a glowing purple spear. It threw it straight at Tsuru. It was a crucial moment. Dearan was standing right next to Tsuru, so she could not just reflect it like she did just now, and it would be too late for her to move away. She bent over backwards. The spear whooshed past above her face and stabbed into the ground behind her. Dearan felt like his heart skipped a beat. Tsuru made a flip and landed on her feet. Then she grabbed the spear, but surprisingly, it was so heavy that she could not even move an inch. Now she knew why that block was so painful. The skeletal giant suddenly charged at Dearan and lifted up its sword, swinging down at him. For one second, Tsuru was in panic, but that quickly eased when Dearan protected himself with the magic Kneel Down Everyone. She then took the chance and cast War Soul Hymn on the giant. She then flew at it and made a kick at its chest. Surprisingly, that was a big enough hit that caused the giant to step back. Tsuru continued hanging around in the air. Baron commanded his giant to swing its weapons at her continuously. However, Tsuru never got hit in any kind of ways. She just kept circling around them like an annoying insect. “Gosh, this is hard, but you still won’t stand a chance against Baroque-Bordeaux! Use it!” As Baron ordered, suddenly the giant’s eyes shone in bright purple, then its movement went up ten times quicker. Within a second, its sword sliced through Tsuru, and she disappeared in the air. Dearan already encountered this before, so he did not flinch an inch, but it was still a bit painful to see her getting sliced. Baron and Baroque-Bordeaux were facing their backs at Dearan. As Baron laughed at how he eliminated Tsuru easily, a hard kick suddenly came behind and he got knocked off far from his Spirit’s shoulder. “Not very cautious, are you?” Tsuru mocked while hanging around in the air. Baron stared at her with an unbelievable expression, “I thought you’re gone! Baroque-Bordeaux! Finish her!” In response, the giant made another swing at her, but except for that particular move that actually cleared her off, all its movements were far too slow for Tsuru. Feeling helpless, but nonetheless could not do anything, Dearan just stood there and watched Baroque-Bordeaux waving its arms like it was drowning. “Tsuru, I don’t think we should waste anymore time,” he said. However, Tsuru was having a different thought. It was not that she could not finish it off right now, but she noticed something else. Baroque-Bordeaux’s movements were generally slow, but why was that attack especially fast? She did not think much next, and simply made a punch onto its face. It slightly shook its head, then continued swinging its weapons at her. Tsuru dodged over its sword, stood on it, and used it as a platform to launch herself into the air. Then, as she dropped from above like a rocket, she put out one of her legs, and bent the other one, and shouted, “Rider kick!” Bull’s eye! She landed her foot onto the giant’s third eye, located on its forehead. It seemed to be immense to it, as it kneeled down on one knee, and covered its forehead with the only hand that was free. It stared at Tsuru, then its eyes started glowing in purple. Before she was about to counter that, Baron warned it, “Not now! You only have one chance left!” “Magic: Angelic Pressure!” A sudden force pressed onto the giant, leading it to stay on the ground on all six of its limbs. It was just a moment of one second though, since this was basically what the magic did: to limit the opponent for one second. However, the pause was not his intention. It was a signal. Tsuru smirked as she flew a bit further away from the giant, then chanted, “Soul Burst: Yourai Spark!” Just like the battle with Death-Sire before, a khakkhara appeared in her hand. As if throwing a javelin, Tsuru shot it right through Baroque-Bordeaux’s chest, the shock so strong that it cracked open all parts of armour on its body. Obviously, since it had a skeletal structure without any bit of flesh, this much damage would not be able to finish it, but that was enough for Tsuru. The khakkhara was stuck in between the giant’s chest like a seesaw. Tsuru used her full force to rush down from above. Once she landed onto one side of the khakkhara, it would start spinning, hence breaking the interior parts of the giant. “Now!” The blade sank deep into her skin. That was Baron’s call. It was too late, too late for both sides. While Tsuru was, once again, killed by the sword, so did she cause the khakkhara to spin, stirring up the insides of Baroque-Bordeaux, even cracking its head open. Both Spirits disappeared at the same time. Normally, Tsuru would come back through Symphonic Burst, but there was a cooldown time after activating a Burst effect, and Tsuru took that chance while she was activating Yourai Spark through Soul Burst. In short, Tsuru would not come back in this battle. On the other hand, Baron was also alone. Dearan was a bit cautious to whether Baron would summon Baroque-Bordeaux back from the dead through the method that Mellan used, but it seemed that it would not be the case, as Baron was also staring at him with the same intensity, with a certain distance between them. Dearan then remembered what Tsuru said before: not everyone could summon a second Spirit. They could only do that if they had killed someone through a Spirit battle. Seeing Baron’s state, it seemed like he did not have such a choice. There should also be no point for Baron to buy time for preparation. Mellan could summon a new Spirit at the very next second. Dearan put on a stance, ready to fight. The only sport he was good at was athletics, but he knew he could not run away in this situation. The battle would only end when either side was defeated, mainly through fainting. However… It was Baron who ran away instead. The new Nexus they were in, called the Princesses’ Floating Garden, consisted of a front gate, a Japanese-style villa, and a garden of cherry trees. They were just done fighting literally outside the garden, now Baron was running towards the villa, and Dearan was chasing after from behind. Baron was not someone who subjected himself to any sports specifically, so naturally he ran slower than Dearan. Dearan leaned forward, he was almost able to grab his collar, but Baron made a sudden turn after they passed through the front entrance of the villa. Dearan panted as he watched the other person stumbling up the stairs. “Damnit!” Dearan complained as he continued chasing Baron up the stairs. It was a wondrous scene: big pieces of clothes, each with an equal area to each other, each having a unique pattern to itself. Some of them had some floral patterns, while the others showed patterns of animals, for example, clothes showing koi fish swimming. These clothes were all hanging over the beams attached to the ceiling. It was unknown to why such a room existed, but it was certain that it caused some problems for Dearan, as he could not see Baron now. Dearan walked through the hanging clothes, going left and right without actually knowing in which spot he was. In this instance, a cane pierced through between the gap of the clothes and poked into his abdomen. It should not hurt that much, but since it was a surprise attack, his mentality caused him to feel more pain. He knew it was Baron, but the clothes were still covering his sight. He could only retreat from his current spot, looking to the front while walking backwards. He could see the overall movement of Baron swinging his stick behind the clothes. There were a few times that he continued stabbing the stick through, but Dearan still managed to dodge or block most of them. As he had a closer look, he realised that the stick was just an ordinary reaching hook for clothes. It was strange. Even though they could not see each other, Baron seemed to be able to sense where he was. However, it was just a short while before he could see the problem. He was moving too much, just as how Baron was moving too much with the reaching hook. So, this time, Dearan stood still. As the reaching hook struck, he instantly lied down onto the floor, while making a fake cry, trying to create an impression that he was hurt. After the hook was pulled back, there was no movement from Baron, probably suspecting what was happening on the other side. That moment had finally come. Baron removed the clothes between them to check out on him. In a flash, Dearan stood up and made an uppercut punch, Baron got pushed up into the air slightly, then dropped back down on his bottom. Dearan took the hook and pointed it at Baron’s eyes, no further than an inch. Both of them were very aware of the fact that any wounds, or even supposed death they would have in a battle would not affect real life at all. So, if Dearan really had to, he could have strangled Baron right now. However, he did not really trust in his own strength. He hated Mellan, and he hated Baron. He used to hate Marcella too, but after listening to her own reasons, he started to have a bit of sympathy on her. However, they stayed still. Baron was not moving because he was afraid, and Dearan was not moving because there seemed to be a voice telling him not to hurt him, or to be more exact, not to act upon his anger. It was an inner voice, a word from the past. It was that blurry figure again that Dearan had been always seeing in his dreams. Fragments of memories were flashing in his mind. They were not in the hospital this time, but in a bedroom. It was his bedroom before he moved to live with aunt Bonnie. Yet again, he could not actually see the speaker, nor could he actually remember who the speaker was. Dearan sighed, and put away the hook. Baron immediately got up, but at this instance, Dearan kicked him hard at his crotch. As Baron was kneeling down from the pain, Dearan pulled his collar and started dragging him around. Baron was struggling, “Wha… What do you think you’re doing?” “Ending this, what else?” Dearan replied coldly. As they reached a wall, Dearan grabbed Baron’s head and slammed him onto the wall. Shortly, they returned to the real world, and Tsuru also once again was standing beside him. “Yay! You did it, Dearan!” Tsuru gave him a passionate hug, while rubbing her face on his. “Urgh… Yea… Can you please… get off from me… thanks…” Dearan gently pushed her off. Baron was standing in front of them, looking unamused. He was defeated, and now his opponents were acting all lovey-dovey, even though that was not their intention. Baron, with both hands in his pockets, glared at them in an unfriendly way, and said, “Mellan is upstairs. Just wait until he gives you a piece of his mind.” Then he turned around and headed towards the front door. Dearan and Tsuru quietly followed him. As they walked in, they were greeted by Marcella. Baron did not bother to even wave at her, and turned to the stairs, while the pair and her nodded at each other, making a final confirm that what they were doing was on the right track. Tsuru whispered to Marcella, “Does Baron know about Mellan’s issue?” “No,” she simply answered. “I see.” “What are you two doing there? Quickly come up!” Baron shouted at them from the stairs. The two of them shifted swiftly. Baron then led them to outside a room. He just stood beside and ordered them to get in by themselves. Without knocking on the door, Dearan stomped into the room, where Mellan was standing by the window holding a glass of red wine. “So you’re finally here. You’ll be a good exercise before I have my dinner,” he licked his lips. Category:Fanfiction Category:Work By Andelas